New Service to Be Offered: Information Literacy Seminars for New Students Report

Executive Summary

Information literacy is essential in promoting learning and educational performance of students. Information-literate students can identify, locate, evaluate, organise, and communicate information derived from various libraries. Emergence of information technology has led to explosion of information, which consequently has overwhelmed students.

Information literacy emerged as a means to enabling students overcome challenges associated with the information explosion in the 21st century. Since information literacy is a complex issue in education systems, education experts have been trying to come up with an appropriate definition of the same and outline effective ways of integrating it into education curriculum.

Integration of information literacy into the educational curriculum is beneficial to students, teaching staff, and librarians for it enhances the learning process and improves academic performance.

When students immerse themselves into the world of information, they find it a daunting process to obtain the relevant information. Specifically, new students experience numerous challenges because they have limited skills in information literacy. Hence, this report suggests that seminar provides an effective means of improving information literacy among new students.

Introduction

The emergence of information technology has led to explosion of information and advancement of education. Colleges and universities have been unable to keep abreast with information technology because information literacy levels of students have always been low. The level of information literacy among students reflects their learning abilities and educational performance.

Students with low information literacy level are unable to identify, locate, evaluate, organise, and communicate the appropriate information, thus affecting their learning and performance in education. Hence, colleges and universities have been struggling to integrate information literacy into their curricula though various ways.

As information literacy enables students to access extensive body of knowledge in libraries, librarians play a critical role as they facilitate the process of information literacy among students. Edzan (2008) states, “The continuous growth of high-quality research materials available online has made the importance of information literacy increasingly apparent” (p.5).

In this view, the information literacy targets both librarians and students, as their relationships have a significant impact on the development of information literacy in a learning institution. Therefore, this report argues that colleges and universities should offer information literacy seminars for new students to promote learning and educational performance.

Information Literacy among Students

Basic View

Information literacy means the ability of students to identify, locate, evaluate, organise, and communicate a given piece of information in a professional or academic manner by using relevant information technology tools. Information literacy enables students to immerse themselves into extensive body of knowledge available in various libraries.

It correlates with information technology competencies as significant learning materials are available in formats that require technological skills for students to access and utilise optimally. According to the Institute for Development Studies (2010), Information literacy is a sublime issue as skills of students form part of the information literacy.

For learning institutions to improve information literacy, they should not only focus on the skills of students, but also create a learning environment with information technology, online materials, strong organisational support, and increase awareness among students. Hence, a comprehensive approach is central in improving information literacy levels among students.

Information literacy among students prepares them to learn efficiently and improve their academic performance. Essentially, information literacy is the foundation of learning in educational institutions. Given that information in various fields has increased exponentially in the wake of information explosion, information technology has enhanced automated process of accessing and utilising the information.

Hence, students who survive in modern learning institutions are the ones who are information literate. Information literate students “know how to learn because they know how knowledge is organised, how to find information and how to use information in such a way that other can learn from them” (Thompson 2002, p.219).

Therefore, it implies that information literacy involves all aspects of information access and use during learning and teaching. A student needs to access the appropriate information, which is valid and reliable, and at the same time understand how to get across to other people. Thus, information literacy entails identifying, locating, evaluating, organising, and communicating acquired information in a professional manner.

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Current Debate

Definition of the information literacy is a subject of debate that has led to development of various definitions and theories to explain the concept of information literacy in the modern society. While some education experts consider information literacy as understanding of how to use library, others perceive it as technological skills that are necessary to access and utilise information constructively.

Variation in perception and definition of information literacy indicates that it is a complex matter, which has many intricate components. After realising that students use ample time when searching for appropriate information, colleges, and universities developed understanding of the relevance of information literacy in learning.

In 1989, the American Library Association “defined information literacy as a set of abilities: recognising an information need and locating, evaluating, and using needed information effectively” (Onwusu-Ansah 2005, p.368).

The definition set the stage for further debate that led to refinement of the definition to include other elements. The elements added into the definition include organisation of information coupled with integration and application in problem solving.

Currently, librarians and educationists have added more elements to keep abreast with information technology. Although the debate of defining information literacy is ongoing, education experts agree that it plays a central role in learning.

Information literacy has also been an issue in the library as librarians across the world have realised that it has a critical influence on learning and performance of students. Debate is going on regarding how information technology can be part of education curriculum.

While some education experts argue that librarians have the capacity to enhance information literacy, some argue that teaching professionals have a significant role of developing information literacy among students. Explosion of information in the modern society has made the process of learning become complex as students often experience confusion when selecting and determining the validity of the information.

In the contemporary world, “only those who are capable of finding, evaluating, analysing, and conveying information to others effectively and efficiently are ones who will succeed in this information environment” (Li 2006, p. 2). Students in various learning institutions perform differently as they have varied information literacy levels.

The role of information literacy in learning has prompted educated experts to agitate for inclusion of information literacy in curricula. Therefore, universities and colleges have been struggling to find ways of incorporating information literacy into their curricula to improve student learning and performance.

Potential Customer Base for Information Literacy Seminar

The customer base for information literacy seminars includes students, teaching staff, librarians, and learning institutions. Extensive body of evidence indicates that information literacy correlates with academic performance. Moreover, information literacy enhances learning among students because it increases efficiency of accessing information in various libraries.

According to Streatfield and Markless (2008), information literacy has significant benefits to students, which include improvement of the learning process, attracting and retaining students, promoting attitudes towards virtual learning environment, enabling distant learning, and ultimately improving academic performance.

When students gain such benefits, they enhance their learning competence for they can identify, locate, evaluate, organise, and communicate knowledge gained in the classroom in a professional manner. Hence, modern learning institutions should scale up information literacy for students to enhance their academic performance in their studies and shape their careers decently.

Additionally, information literacy seminars target teaching staff and librarians as potential customers. Normally, when teaching staff members instruct students to perform certain assignments, students are unable to perform because they do not have essential level of information literacy.

Teaching staff members require students to perform assignments by adhering to academic principles, which include identification of the reliable sources, retrieving information, avoiding plagiarism, and writing in academic styles. Since students do not have essential skills in information literacy, teaching staff members experience challenges in providing instructions and when marking their assignments.

Librarians also experience problems when instructing students to search for certain materials in their libraries because they cannot do it on their own, unless assisted.

Equipping students with information literacy promotes collaboration of the teaching staff and librarians, thus generating concerted efforts necessary for improving learning and academic performance (Thompson 2002). Information literacy creates mutual relationships among students, librarians, and teaching staff, which promote learning.

Information literacy seminars target learning intuitions for they influence the development of a suitable curriculum. Learning institutions across the world are striving to integrate information literacy into their curriculum, but they do not know how to incorporate it in a way that does not affect their current curricula.

Educational reforms revolve around information literacy as they have a significant impact in shaping learning process and academic performance. Institute for Development Studies (2010) asserts, “Information literacy is central to raising institutional standards overall by improving the quality of research, teaching, and learning” (p. 9).

Information literacy transforms institutional culture by encouraging development of information technology and enhancing the use of information effectively and efficiently. Hence, the embedment of information literacy into curriculum enhances quality of teaching, learning, and research to occur in tandem with the mission and goals of a learning institution.

Marketing Strategies of Information Literacy Seminars

Marketing among Students

Setting up seminars for students is a marketing strategy for information literacy. Information literacy level among students depends on their level in colleges and universities. New students usually have a low level of information literacy because they do not have enough experience in the use of information technology.

High school education involves the use of limited reading materials that are mainly in the form of hardcopies; thus, information technology is somehow new to the students. Moreover, the students have not developed advanced learning skills that are critical for their learning at advanced levels such as colleges and universities.

Li (2006) confirms that extensive body of the literature available indicates that students do not have essential information literacy level, yet it is critical for their learning.

Since new students have limited experience in the use of information technology, they have minimum levels of information literacy. Hence, the strategy aims at increasing awareness among students on the essence of information literacy at an early stage of their learning in colleges and universities.

In modern learning institutions, students who have advanced information literacy have the capacity to enhance their learning and academic performance compared to those who have basic information literacy. Information technology literacy correlates with information literacy because students use technological skills when accessing and utilising information from electronic libraries and other online sources.

Edzan (2008) posits, “An IT-literate society must attain a higher level of information literacy so that one can identify, use, and manipulate information” (p.266). However, new students experience challenges in information technology, as teaching staff do not emphasise on the importance of information literacy.

Many learning institutions have relegated the responsibility of equipping students with information literacy skills to librarians. Thompson (2002) asserts, “with little emphasis by teaching faculty, undergraduates realise that learning library skills would not get them many points in the classroom” (p. 219).

As library skills are not significant in earning points to students, attitude, and culture of negligence develop among students. When new students join a certain learning institution, they adopt the same attitude and culture towards library skills, hence prevent them from gaining information literacy skills, which are central in learning.

Eventually, the students and teaching staff contribute to poor levels of information literacy, which ultimately affect learning and academic performance among students.

Marketing among Librarians and Teaching Staff

Since librarians have appropriate knowledge and skills, they have the responsibility of assisting students to identify, search, evaluate, organise, and evaluate information.

Thus, the marketing strategy should focus on librarians and teaching staff because information literacy among students depends on their contributions. When students want to access certain information, they seek assistance from librarians because librarian’s work demands that they should have a high level of information literacy.

In this view, librarians are the custodians of information in learning institutions, and thus they have a critical role of enabling students to access pertinent information from various forms of libraries. Therefore, information literacy levels among students depend on the work of librarians.

If librarians do not equip students with essential skills of using a library, students will have a low level of information literacy.

Thompson (2002) argues that in the past decades, teaching staff in learning institutions did not consider “library skills” as an essential subject that should form part of education curriculum, because it had no significance in enhancing academic performance. Hence, librarians alone struggled to promote information literacy among students as teaching staff ignored it.

However, during late 20th century, explosion of information due to advancement in information technology triggered reforms in higher education and academic libraries. The teaching staff then realised that information technology plays a critical role in learning because it determines how students access and utilise information.

In a bid to improve information literacy among students, paradigm shift demands inclusion of teaching staff in improving essential knowledge and skills to equip students with information literacy.

Explosion of information has made it impossible for librarians alone to provide essential knowledge and skills, as a way of improving information literacy among students. Since information literacy forms part of critical reforms, which education systems require, collaborative approach of improving its level among students is critical.

In this view, Thompson (2002) recommends that accreditation standards should compel teaching staff and librarians to collaborate in promoting information literacy level among students.

Thus, librarians and teaching staff should understand that their collaboration in equipping students with information literacy skills is central in improving learning and academic performance of students.

Marketing among Learning Institutions

Learning institutions should instil information literacy in new students for them to access the vast learning materials in libraries. Since there are many ways in which students can gain information literacy, seminar is one of the many ways that are effective in introducing new students into colleges and universities.

New students normally do not have enough information literacy skills, which enable them to identify, locate, evaluate, organise, and communicate obtained information appropriately. Hence, seminars prepare new students well so that they start their careers when having appropriate tools that form the basis of learning.

Lindsay (2003) states that seminar programs help “students learn how to increase their problem-solving skills, develop research strategies, critically evaluate information sources, use technology to investigate and present information, and work as a member of a team” (p. 23). Hence, through seminars, new students gain essential information literacy to pursue their careers befittingly.

Seminars increase awareness of information literacy among new students, thus transforming their attitudes and culture in learning institutions. A study indicates that, students who participate in seminars during their first year of study have higher retention rate than students who do not participate in information literacy seminars.

The study further indicates, “First year seminar participants earn statistically significant higher GPAs compared to nonparticipants” (Thomas & Tight 2011, p. 218).

The study shows that information literacy seminars have a significant impact in transforming the learning process and academic performance of students. Therefore, seminars provide an effective means that institutions should employ in promoting and enhancing information literacy among new students.

Conclusion

Explosion of information due to technological advancement has created challenges in how students access and utilise information. Information technology has enabled students to access a vast amount of information. However, identification, location, evaluation, organisation, and communication of the obtained information entail a complex process that students cannot comprehend easily.

In this view, information literacy enables students to gain critical skills for them to identify, locate, evaluate, organise, and communicate derived information in a professional and academic manner.

Colleges and universities that have realised the essence of information literacy have equipped their students with essential knowledge and skills, thus alleviating problems that teaching staff and librarians face when assisting students.

Moreover, learning institutions benefit from information literacy because it promotes teaching, learning, and research. Seminars have proved as effective means of introducing new students to information literacy.

Recommendation

Information literacy is indispensable in learning institutions because it has significant benefits to students, teaching staff, librarians, and institutions. Since new students have a low level of information literacy, learning institutions should formulate means of integrating information literacy into the educational curriculum.

Learning institutions have the responsibility of ensuring that students gain critical knowledge and skills during their studies. Therefore, it is recommendable that teaching staff and librarians collaborate in equipping students with knowledge and skills of information literacy.

As this report indicates, seminars effectively enhance information literacy level among students; therefore, learning institutions should ensure that their new students attend the seminars.

Reference List

Edzan, N 2008, ‘Information literacy development in Malaysia: A Review’, International Journal of Libraries and Information Services, vol. 58 no 27, pp. 265-280.

Institute for Development Studies: Strengthening Information Literacy Interventions: using creative approaches to teaching and learning 2010. Web.

Li, H 2006, ‘Information literacy, and librarian-faculty collaboration: A model for success’, International Electronic Journal, vol. 29 no. 24, pp. 1-10.

Lindsay, E 2003, A collaborative approach to information literacy in the freshman seminar. Web.

Onwusu-Ansah, E 2005, ‘Debating definitions of information literacy: enough is enough’, Literature Review, vol. 54 no. 6, pp.366-374.

Streatfield, D & Markless, S 2008, ‘Evaluating the impact of information literacy in higher education: progress and prospects’, International Journal of Libraries and Information Services, vol. 58 no. 102, pp.102-109.

Thomas, T & Tight, M 2011, Institutional transformation to engage a diverse student body, Emerald Group Publishing, New York.

Thompson, G 2002, ‘Information literacy accreditation mandates: What they mean for faculty and librarians’, Library Trends, vol. 51 no. 2, pp. 218-241.